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In every organization various teams hold sway over others at different times in an organization’s history regardless of what the organization charts says. According to theory, politics is a good thing. It is through politics that the teams with the most relevant knowledge in addressing a particular problem or situation exert their influence and guide the organization to the best outcome available.

In most organization, Sales has the most influence. They pay the bills, right? And that gives them the right to influence how product roadmaps evolve, which new markets to enter, and the programs that marketing and other departments conduct. Their intimate knowledge of the market and customers has guided companies to the best outcome available - revenue growth. Or so it was.

In today’s social era, this is no longer true. With virtually infinite numbers of channels through which buyers can access information, other customers, and the inside scoop on any product and company, Sales is no longer in charge; the buyer is. Nothing is more annoying than having researched a product, discovered and contacted other customers to validate learnings, filled out multiple registration forms to access premium content or a trial and on the first sales call find the person don’t have an inkling about you, your company or prior interactions. It’s enough to make one hang up the phone and eliminate that vendor from consideration. Long frustrated with past dependencies on sales and marketing for information needed to achieve their goals, social media has freed buyers to embark on self-directed purchase processes. Yet Sales insists it knows the experience that prospects want to have.

Sorry Sales, love you tons but in today’s social economy many of your colleagues don’t have a clue. In most cases, your prospects only talk to you because you’re the gatekeeper between them and the product or service they want. Building walls around Sales and demanding qualified leads doesn’t result in enduring, profitable customer relationships or pipeline velocity. Neither does the “I’m the only one who can carry it over the finish line” attitude. Sales teams that understand their part in the buyers’ journey are more successful. By serving as the buyer’s internal advocate and partnering with other teams to deliver on a more holistic market interaction strategy, sales is differentiated and builds trust which translates into more repeat sales at higher price points.

DotNetNuke is the leader in open source web content management because they understand exactly what their buyers’ want, a rich, self-service experience. Tons of content matched to the steps in their buyers’ journey; a large, vibrant community of users; a Freemium offering that is feature rich along with additional for-fee products and services. On every free download, Sales reaches out and asks, “How can I help you be successful in your project?” They build trusted relationships by making users successful and that drives more sales as a result. Advocacy works.

In social businesses, the real keepers of the buyer experience is Marketing and Customer Service; the ‘and’ is the important word in this sentence. In the purchase decision, the “experience” buyers have and expect is as important in their purchase decision as the product or service they are buying. Let’s define a buyer’s “experience”: Consistency in tone, accuracy, contextual responsiveness, cadence of value, interaction channels, engagement, and peer-level reputation across the entire lifecycle of the relationship. Consistency builds trust.

Marketing understands the steps of the buyers’ journey from the original trigger event through purchase along with the sought outcomes. If they’ve done their research, they have a detailed, role-based map of where the buyer goes, who they talk to, value sought and actions taken along the way. They have also mapped their campaigns, assets and calls to action to mirror the buyers’ map. Customer Service and Support has the same understanding but for post-purchase. They have a wealth of knowledge in how buyers measure success, how value is defined and changes of time, how well the product achieves target outcomes, and customer relationship and engagement expectations.

When Sales is the experience influencer, these two perspectives are not fused together. The result is a brand credibility gap that drive churn and increases customer service costs. Only by coupling the knowledge of these two teams can a consistent, holistic buyer experience be defined. The insights and intelligence learned from marketing and customer care interactions are the primary determinate of the “experience” that the rest of the organization strives to deliver to its various types of buyers. Additionally, these two outward-facing teams are also best suited to lead the organization in how it should enable, engage and build enduring relationships.

Initially the union of these two teams can feel unnatural; for years they operated at arm’s-length. In social business model, the two teams need to become one virtual team that is ideally co-located. Their alignment should be driven by a common language, shared goals, metrics, systems and team members.

To consummate the marriage of the new corporate power couple, five

things need to happen:

Detailed map of the full buyers’ journey based on primary research.

Job roles defined in terms of engagement and value delivered by journey step.

Play-books, training and feedback looks to guide the rest of the organization.

Support from the CEO and Board can help but isn’t necessary. The new power couple need to realize that the future of the organization’s success depends on them and how well they work together. They have the best relevant knowledge to lead by example on what buyer enablement and engagement means and tear down old stereotypes of who does what.